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WASHINGTON'S 
FAREWELL ADDRESS 



Waskington's 

Farewell Add re ss 

With a Prefatory Note 
Worthington ChaunceyFord 

E of it or* of 

Tike Writings of George Wa shi nqtcn 




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Press of 
George H. Ellis, Boston, U.S.J, 






The facsimile which firms the frontispiece 
of this book is a page of Washington' s letter to 
Madison^ reproduced from a photograph hy Mr. 
E. Bierstadt from the original in the possession 
of the New York Public Library. 



NOTE. 

AS early as February^ ^79^-) Washington 
wished to retire from public life^ and ex- 
pressed to the members of his cabinet his inten- 
tion of not permitting his name to be put for- 
ward in the approaching Presidential election. 
He felt the weight of his years^ he said. His 
health was not firm^ and his memory was not so 
good as it had been. Tranquillity and retire- 
ment had become an " irresistible passion^ It 
was in this frame of mind that he submitted to 
Madison in May^ ^792'> ^^^ draft of a proposed 
" valedictory address " to the public. The rising 
feud between Hamilton and fefferson^ marking 
as it did the rise of bitter partisan conflict in 
national politics^ filled him with apprehension 
for the future of the Union. Jll other matters 
were to be subordinated to that one point. A 
single page of this draft is given in facsimile^ 
as it is the earliest form of the Farewell Address. 
Madison made some suggestions^ now lost; but 
Washington^ s purpose was for the time set aside ^ 
and he entered upon a second term of the Presi- 
dency. 

Four stormy years succeeded^ in which Wash- 
ington saw the division between Hamilton and 
Jefferson widen beyond all cure. The atti- 



NOTE 

tude of France and the intrigues of her agents 
and representatives in the United States had 
brought the administration to the verge of war. 
The treachery of one of his trusted friends^ and 
a member of his cabinet^ had given the President 
a rude shock ; while he saw with misgiving the 
hitherto faithful Madison ranged among the 
opponents of his policy. The abuse of the press^ 
once directed against the measures he pursued^ 
became personal in its criticisms^ and did not 
hesitate to attack his character or even to hint 
at failing mental faculties. Ever sensitive to 
ridicule^ he felt keenly the flings he was power- 
less to resent and of which he could take no 
notice. It was in such a frame of mind he saw 
the time of his deliverance approaching^ and de- 
termined to carry into effect his intention of 
addressing the people of the United States. 

Madison was no longer an adviser of the 
President^ and Washington turned to the trusted 
Hamilton for guidance. ^ In Aprils ^79^^ ^^ 
submitted to him a draft of a paper^ probably 
the same that had been sent to Madison four 
years before^ and added^ " My wish is that the 
whole may appear in a plain style^ and be 
handed to the public in an honesty unaffected^ 
simple part." Hamilton was able not only to 
interpret the wishes of his friend^ but he had a 



NOTE 

faculty of expression long trained in controversy 
and public experience. He it was who took 
the suggested topics of Washington's paper .^ and 
gave them a full statement and an orderly ar- 
rangement. Upon its completion.^ he showed it 
to fohn fay.^ in whose judgment the President 
had great confidence ; and it was then sent to 
Washington. It bore little resemblance to the 
original paper ^ and was not entirely satisfactory 
to the President.^ who suggested certain addi- 
tional matter to be incorporated.^ though com- 
plaining at the same time of its length. * A 
second draft was prepared by Hamiltony and 
this met with favor ^ " / prefer it greatly to 
the other draughts^^ Washington wrote to 
Hamilton late in August.^ " being more copious 
on material points.^ more dignified on the whole.^ 
and ivith less egotism.'^ It was this draft that 
Washington copied ; and^ with a few omissions 
" to avoid the imputation of afifiected modesty " 
and the addition of a short paragraph on educa- 
tion.^ it was given to David C. Claypoole.^ the 
proprietor and editor of the Daily Advertiser, to 
be published. 

Such was the history of this remarkable State 
paper. Though the form and language were 
given by Hamilton.^ the matter was suggested by 
Washington. The address contains the essence 



NOTE 

of a career spent in the public service. A 
planter in a slave-holding community^ a surveyor 
and soldier on the frontiers of an unknown em- 
pire^ a Burgess in the colonial legislature,^ a 
patriot rising against tyranny and oppression,^ 
a commander-in-chief in a long and trying 
struggle for freedom,^ and the chief executive of 
the new State^ — here was an experience in 
war and government that could not hut hear 
fruit. Into the Farewell Address were placed 
the results of a calm and judicial summary of 
the lessons learned from that lifers experience ^ 
and it is this quality that makes it a document 
of interest,^ not for a century only,, hut for all 
time. 

W. C. F. 
Boston, January, 1899. 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 



Friends^ and Fellow-Citizens: 
The period for the new election of a 
Citizen, to administer the Executive 
Government of the United States, being not 
far distant, and the time actually arrived, 
when your thoughts must be employed in 
designating the person, who is to be clothed 
with that important trust, it appears to me 
proper, especially as it may conduce to a 
more distinct expression of the public voice, 
that I should now apprise you of the resolu- 
tion I have formed, to decline being consid- 
ered among the number of those, out of 
whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the 
justice to be assured, that this resolution has 
not been taken, without a strict regard to all 
the considerations appertaining to the rela- 
tion, which binds a dutiful citizen to his 
country — and that, in withdrawing the ten- 
der of service which silence in my situation 
might imply, I am influenced by no diminu- 
tion of zeal for your future interest, no defi- 
ciency of grateful respect for your past 
kindness ; but am supported by a full con- 
viction that the step is compatible with both. 
The acceptance of, and continuance hith- 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

erto in, the oiEce to which your suffrages 
have twice called me, have been a uniform 
sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, 
and to a deference for what appeared to be 
your desire. — I constantly hoped, that it 
would have been much earlier in my power, 
consistently with motives, which I was not 
at liberty to disregard, to return to that re- 
tirement, from which I had been reluctantly 
drawn. — The strength of my inclination to 
do this, previous to the last election, had 
even led to the preparation of an address to 
declare it to you ; but mature reflection on 
the then perplexed and critical posture of 
our affairs with foreign Nations, and the 
unanimous advice of persons entitled to my 
confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, 
external as well as internal, no longer ren- 
ders the pursuit of inclination incompatible 
with the sentiment of duty or propriety; 
and am persuaded, whatever partiality may 
be retained for my services, that in the pres- 
ent circumstances of our country you will 
not disapprove my determination to retire. 

The impressions, with which, I first under- 
took the arduous trust, were explained on 
the proper occasion. — In the discharge of 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

this trust, I will only say, that I have, with 
good intentions, contributed towards the or- 
ganization and administration of the govern- 
ment, the best exertions of which a very 
fallible judgment was capable. — Not uncon- 
scious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my 
qualifications, experience in my own eyes, 
perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has 
strengthened the motives to diffidence of my- 
self; and every day the increasing weight of 
years admonishes me more and more, that 
the shade of retirement is as necessary to me 
as it will be welcome. Satisfied, that, if any 
circumstances have given peculiar value to 
my services, they were temporary, I have the 
consolation to believe, that, while choice and 
prudence invite me to quit the political 
scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment, which 
is intended to terminate the career of my 
public life, my feelings do not permit me 
to suspend the deep acknowledgment of 
that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my 
beloved country, — for the many honors it 
has conferred upon me ; still more for the 
stedfast confidence with which it has sup- 
ported me; and for the opportunities I have 
thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

attachment, by services faithful and persever- 
ing, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. 

— If benefits have resulted to our country 
from these services, let it alvi^ays be remem- 
bered to your praise, and as an instructive 
example in our annals, that under circum- 
stances in which the Passions agitated in 
every direction were liable to mislead, amidst 
appearances somewhat dubious, vicissitudes of 
fortune often discouraging, — in situations in 
which not unfrequently want of success has 
countenanced the spirit of criticism the con- 
stancy of your support was the essential prop 
of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans 
by which they were effected. — Profoundly 
penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with 
me to the grave, as a strong incitement to 
unceasing vows that Heaven may continue 
to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence 

— that your union and brotherly aft^ection 
may be perpetual — that the free constitu- 
tion, which is the work of your hands, may 
be sacredly maintained — that its administra- 
tion in every department may be stamped 
with wisdom and virtue — that, in fine, the 
happiness of the people of these States, under 
the auspices of liberty, may be made com- 
plete, by so careful a preservation and so 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire ■ 
to them the glory of recommending it to the f 
applause, the affection, and adoption of every | 
nation, which is yet a stranger to it. ' 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. — But a 
solicitude for your welfare, which cannot 
end but with my life, and the apprehension 
of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge 
me on an occasion like the present, to offer 
to your solemn contemplation, and to recom- 
mend to your frequent review, some senti- 
ments ; which are the result of much reflec- 
tion, of no inconsiderable observation, and 
which appear to me all important to the 
permanency of your felicity as a People. — 
These will be offered to you with the more 
freedom, as you can only see in them the 
disinterested warnings of a parting friend, 
who can possibly have no personal motive to 
bias his counsels. — Nor can I forget, as an 
encouragement to it your indulgent reception 
of my sentiments on a former and not dis- 
similar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with 
every ligament of your hearts, no recom- 
mendation of mine is necessary to fortify or 
confirm the attachment. 

The Unity of Government which consti- 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

tutes you one people, is also now dear tb 
you. — It is justly so •, — for it is a main Pillar 
in the Edifice of your real independence ; 
the support of your tranquillity at home ; 
your peace abroad ; of your safety ; of your 
prosperity ; of that very Liberty, which you 
so highly prize. — But as it is easy to foresee, 
that from different causes, and from different 
quarters, much pains will be taken, many 
artifices employed, to weaken in your minds 
the conviction of this truth ; — as this is the 
point in your political fortress against which 
the batteries of internal and external enemies 
will be most constantly and actively (though 
often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is 
of infinite moment, that you should properly 
estimate the immense value of your national 
Union to your collective and individual hap- 
piness ; — that you should cherish a cordial, 
habitual, and immoveable attachment to it ; 
accustoming yourselves to think and speak 
of it as of the Palladium of your political 
safety and prosperity ; watching for its pres- 
ervation with jealous anxiety ; discounte- 
nancing whatever may suggest even a sus- 
picion that it can in any event be abandoned, 
and indignantly frowning upon the first 
dawning of every attempt to alienate any 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

portion of our Country from the rest, or to 
enfeeble the sacred ties which now link y 
together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of 
sympathy and interest. — Citizens by birth or j. 
choice of a common country, that country 
has a right to concentrate your affections. — 
The name of American, which belongs to 
you, in your national capacity, must always 
exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than 
any appellation derived from local discrimi- 
nations. — With slight shades of difference, 
you have the same Religion, Manners, Habits, 
and political Principles. — You have in a com- 
mon cause fought and triumphed together. — 
The Independence and Liberty you possess 
are the work of joint councils, and joint 
efforts — of common dangers, sufferings and 
successes. — 

But these considerations, however power- 
fully they address themselves to your sensi- 
bility, are greatly outweighed by those which 
apply more immediately to your Interest. — 
Here every portion of our country finds 
the most commanding motives for carefully 
guarding and preserving the Union of the 
whole. 

The North in an unrestrained intercourse 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

with the South^ protected by the equal Laws 
of a common government, finds in the pro- 
ductions of the latter great additional re- 
sources of maritime and commercial enter- 
prise — and precious materials of manufact- 
uring industry. — The South in the same 
intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the 
North^ sees its agriculture grow and its 
commerce expand. Turning partly into its 
own channels the seamen of the North^ it 
finds its particular navigation envigorated ; — 
and, while it contributes, in different ways, 
to nourish and increase the general mass of 
the national navigation, it looks forward to 
the protection of a maritime strength to 
which itself is unequally adapted. — The 
East^ in a like intercourse with the West^ 
already finds, and in the progressive improve- 
ment of interior communications, by land 
and water, will more and more find, a valu- 
able vent for the commodities which it brings 
from abroad, or manufactures at home. — The 
West derives from the East supplies requi- 
site to its growth and comfort, — and what 
is perhaps of still greater consequence, it 
must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment 
of indispensable outlets for its own produc- 
tions to the weight, influence, and the future 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the 
Union, directed by an indissoluble community 
of interest, as one Nation, — Any other tenure 
by which the West can hold this essential 
advantage, whether derived from its own sep- 
arate strength, or from an apostate and un- 
natural connexion with any foreign Power, 
must be intrinsically precarious. 

While then every part of our Country 
thus feels an immediate and particular in- 
terest in Union, all the parts combined can- 
not fail to find in the united mass of means 
and efforts greater strength, greater resource, 
proportionably greater security from external 
danger, a less frequent interruption of their 
Peace by foreign Nations ; and, what is of 
inestimable value ! they must derive from 
Union an exemption from those broils and 
wars between themselves, which so fre- 
quently afflict neighbouring countries, not 
tied together by the same government ; which 
their own rivalships alone would be sufficient 
to produce; but which opposite foreign alli- 
ances, attachments and intrigues would stim- 
ulate and embitter. — Hence likewise they will 
avoid the necessity of those overgrown Mili- 
tary establishments, which under any form of 
government, are inauspicious to liberty, and 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

which are to be regarded as particularly hos- 
tile to Republican Liberty : In this sense it 
is, that, your Union ought to be considered 
as a main prop of your liberty, and that the 
love of the one ought to endear to you the 
preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive 
language to every reflecting and virtuous 
mind, — and exhibit the continuance of the 
Union as a primary object of Patriotic de- 
sire. — Is there a doubt, whether a common 
government can embrace so large a sphere ? — 
Let experience solve it. — To listen to mere 
speculation in such a case were criminal. — 
We are authorized to hope that a proper or- 
ganization of the whole, with the auxiliary 
agency of governments for the respective 
subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the 
experiment. 'Tis well worth a fair and full 
experiment. With such powerful and obvi- 
ous motives to Union, affecting all parts of 
our country, while experience shall not have 
demonstrated its impracticability, there will 
always be reason to distrust the patriotism 
of those, who in any quarter may endeavor 
to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may 
disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of se- 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

rious concern, that any ground should have 
been furnished for characterizing parties hy 
Geographical discriminations — Northern and 
Southern — Atlantic and Western , whence 
designing men may endeavour to excite a 
belief, that there is a real difference of local 
interests and views. 

One of the expedients of Party to acquire 
influence, within particular districts, is to 
misrepresent the opinions and aims of other 
districts. — You cannot shield yourselves too 
much against the jealousies and heart burn- 
ings which spring from these misrepresenta- 
tions ; — They tend to render alien to each 
other those who ought to be bound together 
by fraternal affection. — The inhabitants of 
our Western country have lately had a use- 
ful lesson on this head. — They have seen, 
in the negotiation by the Executive, and in. 
the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of 
the Treaty with Spain, and in the universal 
satisfaction at that event, throughout the 
United States, a decisive proof how un- 
founded were the suspicions propagated 
among them of a policy in the General 
Government and in the Atlantic States un- 
friendly to their interests in regard to the 
Mississippi. — They have been witnesses to 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

the formation of two Treaties, that with G. 
Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to 
them every thing they could desire, in re- 
spect to our Foreign Relations, towards con- 
firming their prosperity. — Will it not be 
their wisdom to rely for the preservation of 
these advantages on the Union by which 
they were procured ? — Will they not hence- 
forth be deaf to those advisers, if such there 
are, who would sever them from their Breth- 
ren, and connect them with Aliens ? — 

To the efficacy and permanency of your 
Union, a Government for the whole is indis- 
pensable. — No alliances however strict be- 
tween the parts can be an adequate substitute. 
— They must inevitably experience the infrac- 
tions and interruptions which all alliances in 
all times have experienced. — Sensible of this 
momentous truth, you have improved upon 
your first essay, by the adoption of a Con- 
stitution of Government, better calculated 
than your former for an intimate Union, 
and for the efficacious management of your 
common concerns. — This government, the 
.offspring of our own choice uninfluenced and 
iinawed, adopted upon full investigation and 
mature deliberation, completely free in its 
principles, in the distribution of its powers. 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

uniting security with energy, and containing 
within itself a provision for its own amend- 
ment, has a just claim to your confidence and 
your support. — Respect for its authority, 
compliance with its Laws, acquiescence in its 
measures, are duties enjoined by the funda- 
mental maxims of true Liberty. — The basis 
of our political systems is the right of the 
people to make and to alter their Constitutions 
of Government. — But the constitution which 
at any time exists, 'till changed by an ex- 
plicit and authentic act of the whole People, 
is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very 
idea of the power and the right of the People 
to establish Government, presupposes the 
duty of every individual to obey the estab- 
lished Government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the 
Laws, all combinations and associations, 
under whatever plausible character, with the 
real design to direct, controul, counteract, 
or awe the regular deliberation and action of 
the constituted authorities, are destructive 
of this fundamental principle and of fatal 
tendency. — They serve to organize faction, 
to give it an artificial and extraordinary force 
— to put, in the place of the delegated will 
of the Nation, the will of a party ; — often a 

13 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

small but artful and enterprizing minority of 
the community; — and, according to the 
alternate triumphs of different parties, to 
make the public administration the mirror 
of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects 
of faction, rather than the organ of con- 
sistent and wholesome plans digested by 
common councils and modified by mutual 
interests. — However combinations or asso- 
ciations of the above description may now 
and then answer popular ends, they are 
likely, in the course of time and things, to 
become potent engines, by which cunning, 
ambitious, and unprincipled men will be 
enabled to subvert the Power of the People 
and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
Government ; destroying afterwards the very 
engines which have lifted them to unjust 
dominion. — 

Towards the preservation of your Govern- 
ment and the permanency of your present 
happy state, it is requisite, not only that you 
steadily discountenance irregular oppositions 
to its acknowledged authority, but also that 
you resist with care the spirit of innovation 
upon its principles, however specious the 
pretexts. — One method of assault may be to 
efFect, in the forms of the Constitution, 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

alterations which will impair the energy of 
the system, and thus to undermine what can- 
not be directly overthrown. — In all the 
changes to which you may be invited, re- 
member that time and habit are at least as 
necessary to fix the true character of Gov- 
ernments, as of other human institutions — 
that experience is the surest standard, by 
which to test the real tendency of the exist- 
ing Constitution of a Country — that facility 
in changes upon the credit of mere hypothe- 
sis and opinion exposes to perpetual change, 
from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
opinion : — and remember, especially, that for 
the efficient management of your common 
interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a 
Government of as much vigor as is con- 
sistent with the perfect security of Liberty is 
indispensable. — Liberty itself will find in 
such a Government, with powers properly 
distributed and adjusted, its surest Guardian. 
— It is indeed little else than a name, where 
the Government is too feeble to withstand 
the enterprises of faction, to confine each 
member of the Society within the limits 
prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all 
in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the 
rights of person and property. 

IS 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

I have already intimated to you the danger 
of Parties in the State, with particular refer- 
ence to the founding of them on Geographi- 
cal discriminations. — Let me now take a 
more comprehensive view, and warn you in 
the most solemn manner against the baneful 
effects of the Spirit of Party, generally. — 

This Spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable 
from our nature, having its root in the 
strongest passions of the human mind. — It 
exists under different shapes in all Govern- 
ments, more or less stifled, controuled, or 
repressed ; but, in those of the popular form, 
it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is 
truly their worst enemy. — 

The alternate domination of one faction 
over another, sharpened by the spirit of re- 
venge natural to party dissension, which in 
different ages and countries has perpetrated 
the most horrid enormities, is itself a fright- 
ful despotism. — But this leads at length to a 
more formal and permanent despotism. — The 
disorders and miseries, which result, gradually 
incline the minds of men to seek security and 
repose in the absolute power of an Individual : 
and sooner or later the chief of some pre- 
vailing faction, more able or more fortunate 
than his competitors, turns this disposition 

i6 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

to the purposes of his own elevation, on the 
ruins of Public Liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity 
of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not 
to be entirely out of sight), the common and 
continual mischiefs of the spirit of Party are 
sufficient to make it the interest and duty of 
a wise People to discourage and restrain it. — 

It serves always to distract the Public 
Councils, and enfeeble the Public administra- 
tion. — It agitates the community with ill 
founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles 
the animosity of one part against another, 
foments occasionally riot and insurrection. — 
It opens the doors to foreign influence and 
corruption, which find a facilitated access to 
the Government itself through the channels 
of party passions. Thus the policy and the 
will of one country, are subjected to the pol- 
icy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties in free 
countries are useful checks upon the Admin- 
istration of the Government, and serve to 
keep alive the Spirit of Liberty. — This within 
certain limits is probably true — and in Gov- 
ernments of a Monarchical cast. Patriotism 
may look with indulgence, if not with favour, 
upon the spirit of party. — But in those of the 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

popular character, in Governments purely 
elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. — 
From their natural tendency, it is certain 
there will always be enough of that spirit for 
every salutary purpose, — and there being 
constant danger of excess, the effort ought to 
be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate 
and assuage it. — A fire not to be quenched ; 
it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent 
its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of 
warming, it should consume. — 

It is important, likewise, that the habits 
of thinking in a free country should inspire 
caution in those entrusted with its adminis- 
tration, to confine themselves within their 
respective constitutional spheres ; avoiding in 
the exercise of the powers of one department 
to encroach upon another. — The spirit of 
encroachment tends to consolidate the powers 
of all the departments in one, and thus to 
create, whatever the form of government, a 
real despotism. — A just estimate of that love 
of power, and proneness to abuse it, which 
predominates in the human heart, is sufficient 
to satisfy us of the truth of this position. — 
The necessity of reciprocal checks in the 
exercise of political power, by dividing and 
distributing it into different depositories, and 

i8 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

constituting each the Guardian of the Public 
Weal against invasions by the others, has 
been evinced by experiments ancient and 
modern ; some of them in our country and 
under our own eyes. — To preserve them 
must be as necessary as to institute them. 
If in the opinion of the People, the distribu- 
tion or modification of the Constitutional 
powers be in any particular wrong, let it 
be corrected by an amendment in the way 
which the Constitution designates. — But let 
there be no change by usurpation ; for 
though this, in one instance, may be the 
instrument of good, it is the customary 
weapon by which free governments are 
destroyed. — The precedent must always 
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any 
partial or transient benefit which the use can 
at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits, which n 
lead to political prosperity. Religion and * 
morality are indispensable supports. — In 
vain would that man claim the tribute of 
Patriotism, who should labour to subvert 
these great Pillars of human happiness, these 
firmest props of the duties of Men and 
Citizens. — The mere Politician, equally with 
the pious man, ought to respect and to 

19 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

cherish them. — A volume could not trace 
all their connexions with private and public 
felicity. — Let it simply be asked where is 
the security for property, for reputation, for 
life, if the sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths, which are the instruments of in- 
vestigation in Courts of Justice ? And let 
us with caution indulge the supposition, that 
morality can be maintained without religion. 
— ^Whatever may be conceded to the influ- 
ence of refined education on minds of peculiar 
structure — reason and experience both for- 
bid us to expect, that national morality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle.- — 

'Tis substantially true, that virtue or mo- 
rality is a necessary spring of popular govern- 
ment. — The rule indeed extends with more 
or less force to every species of Free Gov- 
ernment. — Who that is a sincere friend to 
it, can look with indifference upon attempts 
to shake the foundation of the fabric .? — 

Promote, then, as of primary importance, 
institutions for the general diffusion of knowl- 
edge. — In proportion as the structure of a 
government gives force to public opinion, it 
is essential that public opinion should be 
enlightened. — 

As a very important source of strength 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

and security, cherish public credit. — One 
method of preserving it is to use it as 
sparingly as possible : — avoiding occasions 
of expense by cultivating peace, but remem- 
bering also that timely disbursements to pre- 
pare for danger frequently prevent much 
greater disbursements to repel it — avoiding 
likewise the accumulation of debt, not only 
by shunning occasions of expense, but by 
vigorous exertions in time of Peace to dis- 
charge the debts which unavoidable wars may 
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing 
upon prosperity the burthen which we our- 
selves ought to bear. The execution of 
these maxims belongs to your Representa- 
tives, but it is necessary that public opinion 
should co-operate. — To facilitate to them the 
performance of their duty, it is essential that 
you should practically bear in mind, that 
towards the payments of debts there must 
be Revenue — that to have Revenue there 
must be taxes — that no taxes can be devised 
which are not more or less inconvenient and 
unpleasant — -that the intrinsic embarrass- 
ment inseparable from the selection of the 
proper objects (which is always a choice of 
difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for 
a candid construction of the conduct of tha? 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Government in making it, and for a spirit of 
acquiescence in the measures for obtaining 
Revenue which the public exigencies may at 
any time dictate. — 

Observe good faith and justice towards all | 
Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with | 
all. — Religion and Morality enjoin this con- i 
duct *, and can it be that good policy does not 
equally enjoin it ? — It will be worthy of a 
free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a 
great nation, to give to mankind the mag- 
nanimous and too novel example of a People 
always guided by an exalted justice and 
benevolence. — Who can doubt that in the 
course of time and things, the fruits of such 
a plan would richly repay any temporary 
advantages, which might be lost by a steady 
adherence to it ? Can it be, that Providence 
has not connected the permanent felicity of 
a Nation with its virtue ? The experiment, J 
at least, is recommended by every^sentimeiit^ 
which ennobles human nature.T^^— Alas ! is it 
rendered impossible by its vices ? 

In the execution of such a plan nothing is 
more essential than that permanent, invet- 
erate antipathies against particular nations and 
passionate attachments for others should be 
excluded ; and that in place of them just and 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

amicable feelings towards all should be culti- 
vated. — The Nation, which indulges towards 
another an habitual hatred or an habitual 
fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is 
a slave to its animosity or to its affection, 
either of which is sufficient to lead it astray 
from its duty and its interest. — Antipathy 
in one nation against another disposes each 
more readily to offer insult and injury, to 
lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and 
to be haughty and intractable, when acci- 
dental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. 
— Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, en- 
venomed and bloody contests. — The Nation 
prompted by ill-will and resentment some- 
times impel to War the Government, con- 
trary to the best calculations of policy. — The 
Government sometimes participates in the 
national propensity, and adopts through pas- 
sion what reason would reject ; — at other 
times, it makes the animosity of the Nation 
subservient to projects of hostility instigated 
by pride, ambition, and other sinister and 
pernicious motives. — The peace often, some- 
times perhaps the Liberty, of Nations has 
been the victim. — 

So likewise a passionate attachment of one 
Nation for another produces a variety of 

23 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

evils. — Sympathy for the favourite nation, 
facilitating the illusion of an imaginary com- 
mon interest in cases where no real common 
interest exists, and infusing into one the en- 
mities of the other, betrays the former into a 
participation in the quarrels and w^ars of the 
latter, w^ithout adequate inducement or justi- 
fication : It leads also to concessions to the 
favourite Nation of privileges denied to 
others, v^^hich is apt doubly to injure the Na- 
tion making the concessions ; by unneces- 
sarily parting with what ought to have been 
retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, 
and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties 
from whom equal privileges are withheld ; 
and it gives to ambitious, corrupted or de- 
luded citizens (who devote themselves to the 
favourite Nation) facility to betray, or sacri- 
fice the interests of their own country, with- 
out odium, sometimes even with popularity : 
— gilding with the appearances of a virtuous 
sense of obligation, a commendable deference 
for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for 
public good, the base or foolish compliances 
of ambition, corruption or infatuation. — 

As avenues to foreign influence in innu- 
merable ways, such attachments are particu- 
larly alarming to the truly enlightened and 

24 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

independent Patriot. — How many opportu- 
nities do they afford to tamper with domestic 
factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to 
mislead public opinion, to influence or awe 
the public councils ! Such an attachment 
of a small or weak, towards a great and 
powerful nation, dooms the former to be the 
satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign in- 
fluence, I conjure you to believe me, fellow 
citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought 
to be constantly awake, since history and ex- 
perience prove that foreign influence is one 
of the most baneful foes of Republican Gov- 
ernment. — But that jealousy, to be useful 
must be impartial ; else it becomes the in- 
strument of the very influence to be avoided, 
instead of a defence against it. — Excessive 
partiality for one foreign nation and exces- 
sive dislike of another, cause those whom 
they actuate to see danger only on one side, 
and serve to veil and even second the arts of 
influence on the other. — Real Patriots, who 
may resist the intrigues of the favourite, are 
liable to become suspected and odious; while 
its tools and dupes usurp the applause and 
confidence of the people, to surrender their 
interests. — 



'5 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

The great rule of conduct for us, in re- 
gard to foreign Nations, is, in extending our 
commercial relations, to have with them as 
little Political connection as possible. — So far 
as we have already formed engagements let 
them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. — 
Here let us stop. — 

Europe has a set of primary interests, 
which to us have none, or a very remote re- 
lation. — Hence she must be engaged in fre- 
quent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. — Hence 
therefore it must be unwise in us to impli- 
cate ourselves, by artificial ties in the ordi- 
nary vicissitudes of her politics, or the 
ordinary combinations and collisions of her 
friendships, or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites 
and enables us to pursue a different course. — 
If we remain one People, under an efficient 
government, the period is not far off, when 
we may defy material injury from external 
annoyance ; when we may take such an atti- 
tude as will cause the neutrality we may at 
any time resolve upon to be scrupulously 
respected. — When belligerent nations, under 
the impossibility of making acquisitions upon 
us, will not lightly hazard the giving us 

a6 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

provocation ; when we may choose peace or 
war, as our interest guided by justice shall 
counsel. — 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar 
a situation ? — Why quit our own to stand 
upon foreign ground ? — Why, by interweav- 
ing our destiny with that of any part of 
Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity 
in the toils of European ambition, rivalship^ 
interest, humour or caprice? — 
^> 'Tis our true policy to steer clear of per- 
manent alliances, with any portion of the 
foreign world ; - — so far, I mean, as we are 
now at liberty to do it — for let me not be 
understood as capable of patronizing in- 
fidelity to existing engagements. (I hold 
the maxim no less applicable to public than 
to private affairs, that honesty is the best 
policy). — ' I repeat it therefore let those en- 
gagements be observed in their genuine 
sense. — But in my opinion it is unnecessary 
and would be unwise to extend them. — 

Taking care always to keep ourselves^ 
by suitable establishments, on a respectably 
defensive posture, we may safely trust to 
temporary alliances for extraordinary emer- 
gencies. — 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all 

27 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Nations, are recommended by policy, hu- 
manity and interest. — But even our com- 
mercial policy should hold an equal and 
impartial hand : neither seeking nor granting 
exclusive favours or preferences ; — consult- 
ing the natural course of things ; — diffusing 
and diversifying by gentle means the streams 
of commerce, but forcing nothing ; — estab- 
lishing w^ith Powers so disposed — in order 
to give trade a stable course, to define the 
rights of our Merchants, and to enable the 
Government to support them — conven- 
tional rules of intercourse, the best that 
present circumstances and mutual opinion 
vi^ill permit ; but temporary, and liable to be 
from time to time abandoned or varied, as 
experience and circumstances shall dictate ; 
constantly keeping in view^, that 'tis folly in 
one nation to look for disinterested favors 
from another, — that it must pay vt^ith a por- 
tion of its independence for whatever it may 
accept under that character — that by such 
acceptance, it may place itself in the con- 
dition of having given equivalents for nomi- 
nal favours and yet of being reproached with 
ingratitude for not giving more. — There can 
be no greater error than to expect, or cal- 
culate upon real favours from Nation to 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Nation. — 'Tis an allusion which experi- 
ence must cure, which a just pride ought 
to discard. — 

In offering to you, my Countrymen, these 
counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I 
dare not hope they will make the strong and ] 
lasting impression, I could wish, — that they 
will controul the usual current of the passions, 
or prevent our Nation from running the 
course which has hitherto marked the des- 
tiny of Nations. — But if I may even flatter 
myself, that they may be productive of some 
partial benefit ; some occasional good ; that 
they may now and then recur to moderate 
the fury of party spirit, to warn against the 
mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against 
the impostures of pretended patriotism, this 
hope will be a full recompense for the solici- 
tude for your welfare, by which they have 
been dictated. — 

How far in the discharge of my official 
duties, I have been guided by the principles 
which have been delineated, the public Rec- 
ords and other evidences of my conduct must 
witness to You, and to the World. — To my- 
self, the assurance of my own conscience is, 
that I have at least believed myself to be 
guided by them. — fA 

29 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

In relation to the still subsisting War in 
Europe, my Proclamation of the 2 2d of 
April 1793 is the index to my plan. — Sanc- 
tioned by your approving voice and by that 
of Your Representatives in both Houses of 
Congress, the spirit of that measure has 
continually governed me : — uninfluenced by 
any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination with the aid 
of the best lights I could obtain, I was well 
satisfied that our country, under all the cir- 
cumstances of the case, had a right to take, 
and was bound in duty and interest, to take 
a Neutral position, — Having taken it, I de- 
termined, as far as should depend upon me, 
to maintain it, with moderation, persever- 
ance, and firmness. — 

The considerations which respect the 
right to hold this conduct, it is not neces- 
sary on this occasion to detail. I will only 
observe, that according to my understanding 
of the matter, that right, so far from being 
denied by any of the Belligerent Powers, 
has been virtually admitted by all. — 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct 
may be inferred, without anything more, 
from the obligation which justice and hu- 
manity impose on every Nation, in cases in 

30 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate 
the relations of Peace and Amity towards 
other Nations. — 

The inducements of interest for observ- 
ing that conduct will best be referred to 
your own reflections and experience. — 
With me, a predominant motive has been 
to endeavour to gain time to our country to 
settle and mature its yet recent institutions, 
and to progress without interruption to that 
degree of strength and consistency, which 
is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, 
the command of its own fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of 
my Administration, I am unconscious of 
intentional error — I am nevertheless too 
sensible of my defects not to think it proba- 
ble that I may have committed many 
errors. — Whatever they may be I fervently 
beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate 
the evils to which they may tend. — I shall 
also carry with me the hope that my coun- 
try will never cease to view them with in- 
dulgence ; and that after forty-five years of 
my life dedicated to its service, with an up- 
right zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities 
will be consigned to oblivion, as myself 
must soon be to the mansions of rest. 



31 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Relying on its kindness in this as in 
other things, and actuated by that fervent 
love towards it, which is so natural to a 
man, who views in it the native soil of 
himself and his progenitors for several gen- 
erations ; — I anticipate with pleasing ex- 
pectation that retreat, in which I promise 
myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet 
enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my 
fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good 
Laws under a free Government, — the ever 
favourite object of my heart, and the happy 
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, 
labours, and dangers. 

G? WASHINGTON 

United States, ") , 

igth September, \ ^"^^• 



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